This invention relates generally to circuit boards, and more particularly, to circuit boards used in connectors to transition one type of cable to another.
Connector transition circuit boards are used in a variety of connector types to convey signals between cables, mother boards, daughter cards, backplanes and the like. For example, one end of the circuit board may be interconnected with one or more coaxial cables and the other end of the circuit board is interconnected with contacts in a connector or pads on a component circuit board. Currently available connector transition circuit boards typically do not have an internal ground reference. Thus, the connector transition circuit board generally forms a non-coaxial board-to-board wire interface. Today, high speed applications have increasing performance requirements and utilize higher and higher signal frequencies. The non-coaxial board-to-board wire interfaces formed in conventional connector transition circuit boards are inadequate for these high speed applications.
Further, existing connector systems with transition circuit boards are used with numerous different configurations of cables and component circuit boards. Each different cable and board configuration may have a unique signal and ground line configuration and a unique cable contact or pin pattern at the connector. Consequently, each different cable to board configuration has a unique signal and ground routing pattern through the connector between the cable and component circuit board. For example, one configuration may designate pins 1 and 10 as ground pins, while a second configuration may designate pins 4 and 20 as ground pins. Also, certain connectors may use insulation displacement contacts to terminate the wires within coaxial cables, while other connectors may not. Heretofore, connectors were designed for a specific application and configuration. It is expensive and undesirable to alter connector systems for each individual application and configuration, to change signal routing, to change pin-out patterns and create custom transition boards for different applications.
Therefore, a need exists for a transition circuit board for connectors that do not otherwise have an internal ground reference and that may be used in systems having different signal routing patterns with respect to each other. Certain embodiments of the present invention are intended to meet these needs and other objectives that will become apparent from the description and drawings set forth below.